Author: scottr

Description: Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), probably the preeminent American female abolitionist, is best known to most readers for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally published in serial form in the newspaper the National Era, in June of 1851, it was released in book form in an edition of around 5,000 copies. The book considered the most sold book in the 1850s after the Bible, served to inflame both pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates. The copy shown here open to the title page, is the first edition, first state of the book, and is an ex-libris of Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. Additional items from an exhibit entitled “Female Abolitionists: Leading the Way” can be seen in the Joyner Library lobby area from July 1, 2018 to October 1, 2018.

Description: J. H. Rose, Civil Defense Manager for Pitt County, talks on telephone during Hurricane Donna in September of 1960. Hurricane Donna touched every state on the East Coast from Florida to Maine. In North Carolina there were eight deaths and 100 injured with property damage over five million dollars.

Description: Cats are ethereal creatures that span time and space. They are highly prized members of the science fiction and fantasy community. Often purring away in our homes and spaces, they are lords and ladies of all they reign. We don’t pick our feline friends but instead they chose us, and having made their choice we can travel with them to distance lands and worlds in space. Catfantastic is a collection of short cat stories collected by Andrew Norton and Martin Greenberg. So join them in these stories as they save damsels in distress, conduct “bioengineered” cat diplomatic missions, ward off dangers to humans, and save a major public dam project from destruction. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, its….SUPERCAT.

Description: This chart was part of a large survey done by the Hydrographic Office of the U.S. Navy just prior to the Civil War. The survey was conducted by Alexander Dallas Bache (1806-1867) Superintendent, and under the local supervision of John Newland Maffitt (1819-1886). Using these charts Maffitt, later in the Confederate Navy, was known as the “Prince of the Privateers” for his extraordinary success as a blockade runner and commerce raider. Maffitt also commanded the CSS Albemarle which dominated the Roanoke River for a time during the war. Of special interest on this chart is Carolina City, NC which was a rival to a development to the east by John Motley Moreland called Shepard’s Point. Both developments were merged into Morehead City. For more information on Carolina City please visit: http://friendsoffortmacon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/The-Lost-Carolina-City.pdf